What Do Turkish People Like to Do for Fun?

Curious about what Turks actually do once the workday ends? The honest short answer: they socialise, constantly, over endless tea. Beyond that, the favourites are football (watching and arguing about it more than playing), weekend mangal picnics in the nearest forest, long sittings in tea gardens with a backgammon board, and the simple, sacred habit of visiting each other’s homes. Below I break down the real ones, the way a friend who lives here would tell you, not a tourist brochure.

A quick note before we start: hobbies vary person to person, just like anywhere. A 22-year-old in Kadıköy and a 60-year-old in a small Anatolian town do not spend their Saturdays the same way. But there are a handful of activities that cut across almost every age, region and income bracket. Those are what this post is about.

So what do Turkish people like to do for fun?

If I had to name the single most common pastime, it would be spending time with friends and family, in person, with food and drink involved. Turkish social life is warm and relentless. People drop by unannounced, stay for hours, and a “quick coffee” routinely turns into a five-hour evening. Visiting relatives, hosting friends, lingering at the table long after the plates are empty: this is the bedrock of Turkish fun, and everything else builds on top of it.

If you want a fuller picture of the people behind these habits, I wrote a separate piece on what Istanbul people are really like that pairs well with this one.

Tea, tea gardens and the backgammon board

You cannot talk about Turkish leisure without talking about tea. Türkiye drinks more tea per person than any country on earth, around 3 kilograms per head a year at the last count, which works out to several glasses a day and far more in winter. It is poured from a double stacked kettle into small tulip shaped glasses called ince belli, and it is the social glue of the whole country.

The natural habitat for all this tea is the çay bahçesi, the tea garden. Picture rows of low stools and small tables, often under plane trees or with a sea view, where people sit for hours nursing glass after glass. Out come the backgammon (tavla) boards, the rattle of dice, and the loud, theatrical accusations of luck and cheating that make a good game. Older men have their own version, the kıraathane, a more traditional coffeehouse, but tea gardens welcome everyone. For where to do this properly in the city, my list of Istanbul cafe options worth trying is a good place to start.

Turkish coffee deserves its own mention. It is thicker, served in tiny cups, and traditionally followed by reading the grounds for a bit of fun fortune telling. If that side of things interests you, here is where to drink Turkish coffee in Istanbul.

Football: the national obsession

Ask any Turkish person which team they support and you will get an instant, fierce answer. Football is less a hobby here and more an identity. The big three Istanbul clubs, Galatasaray, Fenerbahçe and Beşiktaş, dominate conversation, and the Galatasaray versus Fenerbahçe derby is the most watched match in the country and one of the loudest rivalries anywhere in the world. Galatasaray took the Süper Lig title again in the 2025-26 season, which kept the bragging rights debate roaring through every tea garden and barbershop in Istanbul.

Most people watch rather than play. Match nights mean packed living rooms, crowded sports bars, and cafes with the volume turned up. But you will also see kids and grown men playing pickup games on small artificial pitches (halı saha) that you rent by the hour. It is genuinely the most reliable conversation starter in the country: mention a team, pick a side, and you have a new friend or a friendly enemy within seconds.

Mangal: the weekend picnic ritual

Here is one outsiders rarely expect. On a warm weekend, huge numbers of Turkish families pack the car with a charcoal grill (mangal), foil wrapped meat, a tea kettle, folding chairs and head for the nearest patch of green. This is not a quick picnic. It is a half day commitment built around fire, food and company, with tea bubbling on a side burner and köfte, sucuk and vegetables blistering over the coals.

In Istanbul, the classic destination is the Belgrad Forest, the city’s largest woodland, which has several dedicated picnic areas (Büyük Bent is the most popular) with built in grilling spots. Families arrive early to claim a good table under the trees, children disappear into the woods, and the whole thing runs until the light fades. If you would rather see the city’s parks more broadly, I rounded up the best parks and forests in Istanbul for exactly this kind of day out.

Eating out, shopping and the mall as a meeting point

When two of the most common survey answers for “favourite hobby” in Türkiye come back as shopping and tech, it tells you something real about modern life here. Malls are not just for buying things. In a city with hot summers and rainy winters, the air conditioned mall has become a social hub, somewhere to meet friends, eat, see a film and walk around for the afternoon.

Eating out is its own pastime entirely. Turks take food seriously and treat a long meal with friends as the main event, not a means to an end. Breakfast in particular is a weekend institution, a sprawling spread that can last for hours. If you want to understand the food culture that fuels so much of this socialising, my guide to classic Turkish breakfast foods covers what actually lands on the table.

Walking, the Bosphorus and simply being outside

Plenty of Turkish fun costs nothing. A long evening walk, an ice cream, a stroll along the water: these are everyday pleasures, especially in coastal cities. In Istanbul, watching the sun set over the Bosphorus is a free ritual locals never tire of, and a stroll along the Bosphorus at sunset is one of the most reliably lovely ways to spend an evening here. Add ferry rides between the two continents, fish sandwiches by the water and tea afterward, and you have a perfect, cheap Turkish weekend.

Younger generations: gaming, gyms and going out

The younger crowd splits its time differently. Video gaming is huge, both casual mobile games and serious PC and console play, and internet cafes still exist for online sessions with friends. Fitness has surged too: weight training, pilates and group classes are popular, and you will find well equipped studios across the bigger cities. Then there is nightlife, which in places like Istanbul runs from rooftop bars to clubs that do not get going until well after midnight.

The quieter hobbies

Not everything is loud and social. Plenty of Turks enjoy gentler pastimes at home: knitting and needlework, tending balcony gardens, solving crossword and sudoku puzzles, and watching the long running TV dramas (dizi) that are a genuine national pastime in their own right. Traditional crafts still have a devoted following too, from ebru paper marbling to miniature painting, the kind of slow, careful hobbies passed down through generations.

The bottom line

So, what do Turkish people like to do for fun? Strip it all back and the answer is connection. Whether it is a backgammon game over tea, a forest full of grills on a Sunday, a derby match shouted at the screen, or a five hour breakfast that no one wants to end, the through line is people, food and time spent together. Master that one idea and you understand Turkish fun better than any list ever could. If you are heading here yourself, my broader notes on Istanbul culture will help you slot right in.